Post by siuyiu on Jul 12, 2014 5:35:26 GMT
Temujin's reviews from WSv1
Shaw Brothers
The Avenging Eagle 9.0/10
A masterpiece by Sun Chung, this one tops almost everything except for the selected few, the combination of real sceneries plus the use of Shaw Brothers studio were wonderful, the plot is one of the best, and you really won't see Alex Fu Sheng, Ti Lung, and Ku Feng put out this kind of martial arts extravaganza again. Just simply one of the best, in my top 5
Clans of Intrique 8.75/10
Another top contender in a long list of Chu Yuan's films, I have this second in my list after Killer Clans, Ti Lung as Chu Liu Xiang was the best wuxia fans can ever imagined, he played the role to perfection, the charm, the charisma, the martial arts, and the smile, they're all there. Gu Long must be proud to see his novel got adapted into such a beautiful wuxia fillm. Yueh Hua as the Flower Monk was also excellent.
I feel that my Top 25 Asian movie won't be complete without the crème de la crème wuxia (Chinese fantasy martial arts) genre classic from the robust, now defunct, Shaw Brother's studio. Many people regarded Shaw Brothers as the chop socky B-movie film producer in the late 60s, 70s, and early 80s, before the studio closed down in the mid 80s due to ravaging competition from other studios in Hong Kong, but most of the newer generation only saw most of their highly insulting, and badly English dubbed Kung Fu movies, which resulted in generalized stereotypes of Chinese martial arts movies. Still we could not say anything because those dubbed butchered films were the result of copies of the old movies, not the original source because Shaw Brothers never released their original products after studio closed down. However, this whole dillema was solved recently when Celestial Pictures bought the right to re-release almost all of Shaw Brother's movies in remastered format, with the original audio and in its original Shawscopewidescreen format.
Most people think about Chow Yun-Fat in the movie A Better Tomorrow, but the actual lead actor in that movie was Ti Lung, in fact, he won the best actor award for his performance that year. If you are not familiar with Ti Lung, let me tell you, he is the frontrunner leading man in Hong Kong cinema back in the 70s. When he was young, he was good-looking, handsome, athletic, talented, and dashing, basically a typical chivalrious look combined with martial arts training and acting talent. In this movie Clans of Intrique, he was at his top form. Not only the movie was backed by the famous Chinese novel, originally written by Gu Long, and the script written by Ni Kuang. It was only directed by the artistically talented Director Chu Yuan, which succesfully brought the novel and the dreamy feeling of the ancient China alive on the movie screen. The lavish sets, despite produced inside the huge Shaw's film studio, and the attention to details were spot on.
Unlike the wuxia genre of today, such as House of the Flying Dagger or the visually dazzling but weak The Promise, this masterpiece is filled with intriques and plots, which will keep you glued to the screen trying to keep up with the pace of the story, which played out like a detective story. IMHO, this is the best example of what a perfect wuxia movie should be, in fact, many Westerners watch it only to be converted to the wuxia genre, because the movie is poetic and beautiful with superb storyline. You don't watch it for the typical chop socky fight scenes but you watch it for the overall quality and story, which was blended perfectly.
If you are going to watch it or get the DVD, you need to the get the Region 3 Celestial Release.
The Jade Face Assasin 6.0/10
Lily Ho starred as Wen Yu Er (don't really remember the exact name), from Gu Long's character, Xiao Yu Er in The Twins, except here they converted him into a female character. The story was actually quite loyal to the first half of the novel, but hacked the end and made it just a passable effort from Shaw Brothers
The Jade Raksha 8.20/10
If you like Come Drink with Me then you are going to love this movie, it's another 60s wuxia film, it means more raw sword fighting with less choreography, it's not as ancient as One Armed Swordsman but don't expect to see Liu Chia Liang's later (late 70s, early 80s) choreography here. The bamboo forest scene and the rooftop fights were excellent, one of the better one from Cheng Pei Pei
The Jade Tiger 8.60/10
An adaptation of Gu Long's Bai Yu Lao Hu (roughly translated The Jade Tiger), a great movie with an excellent message at the end, full of intriques and plot twists, I just love the ending of this movie, and how Derek Yee played a villain, Shih Zhu was also great as always, one of the top 5 Chu Yuan's adaptations of GL books
Killer Clans 9/10
One of the most revered Wuxia production from Shawbrothers studio, favorite of many old school wuxia fans and it shows Smile. Killer Clans was a special movie due to the high budget put into the movie during its time. This movie is based on Gu Long's novel, called Meteor, Butterfly, and Sword in English, one of his popular one.
The movie (as the book does) contains a lot of plot twists, double and triple crosses. Characters died every 5-10 minutes, just how it's told in the novel. The romantic art direction was matchless even for today's standard, relative to the budget of course. Director Chu Yuan is considered the master at bringing Gu Long's novel alive on the screen, he had a good sense of color and camera placements. He made the world of Gu Long seemed dream like, and only Shaw Brothers studio of the 70s was able to capture it.
Tsung Wah, Ching Li, Ku Feng, and Yueh Hua just perfect here. Ku Feng was in his prime and perhaps in his top 5 best role Smile
The fighting scenes might not be too many, but Tang Chia's direction (he was a weapon fight choreographer at Shaw Brothers during its golden wuxia production years. The plots of the story will keep you watching and guessing until the end.
These days Hong Kong just don't make Wuxia movie like this one anymore. An example would be a movie called Butterfly & Sword (1993) based on the same novel, starring Michelle Yeoh, Tony Leung and Donnie Yen, which is crap.
One Armed Swordsman 8.50/10
It might not work for some people because the fight scenes are just too slow and ancient, basically Wang Yu swinging the broken blade in one slash motion ala Samurai, it's no surprised since this movie inspired Chang Cheh from Kurosawa's films, for most though, it's this raw, simple sword slashing scenes that did the wonder, the movie was the first HK movie that hit $1 Mil HK dollar in the box office at premiere and started the crazed in wuxia genre
The New One Armed Swordsman 8.0/10
Most people put this one on their list in the three One Armed Swordsman released by Chang Cheh, this one starred the charming David Chiang and the dashing young Ti Lung, their chemistry, alhough doesn't last long in this movie, was legendary, the fight scene in the bridge with the breathtaking sceneries in the background was considered one of Shaw's best cinematography, thousands of people got hacked into pieces here, I do however still like the original by a little bit.
The Return of the One Armed Swordsman 7.90/10
Some people who put values on fighting scenes like this better because here, not only Wang Yu as the One Armed Swordsman fight a villain, but 8 villains in total, a full non-stop wuxia action, surprisingly however, I am one of the minorities who found the sequel a little bit too much, I prefer the romantism of the first one
The Sentimental Swordsman 8/10
Adapted from one of the most popular Wuxia novels of all time in Chinese culture, called Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword, or better known as Dagger Li or Little Li's Flying Dagger.
Ti Lung playing the role of Li Xun Huan, Xiao Li Fei Dao or Dagger Li. Ti Lung teamed up with Derek Yee here, playing as Ah Fei, the movie won the best picture in the earliest HK award events, it is another Shaw Brother's wuxia classic, what really hinder this film to be on the top of my list is the pink costume worn by villian, and how Chu Yuan changed the ending, I'm a novel purist Wink but really ... the dagger just can't miss Smile
Anyway, the movie is very loyal to the novel from the moment the movie starts, the only thing is keep in mind that since this was an earlier (prior to 1990) adaptation where the budget was limited and visual effect technology was still ancient compared to today's standard, don't expect Hero or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, but the cinematography, although primarily shot in Shawbrother's studio was amazing and a breakthrough. The movie was able to capture the spirit of the novel, it was so perfect that it won the Golden Horse Award in 1978 for best cinematography
The movie took some of the lines from the novel words per words, that is until the last scenes of the movie, where Chu Yuan made some changes to add tension and mystery of the story.
Gu Long's novels are sort of like Ancient Chinese detective stories, where flavorful twists and turns are embedded throughout. Ti Lung as Li XunHuan, or Dagger Li, is also one of the best depiction of Gu Long's characters in the bigscreen. He's great as the coughing 'flying dagger never misses' Li XunHuan.
The Water Margin 8.40/10
This is an amazing, all star power, super epic Shaw Brother's production, from Ku Feng, to Lily Ho, to Yueh Hua as Lin Chong, to David Chiang as Xiao Yi, to Ti Lung as Wu Shung, to Chen Kuan Tai, to Fan MeiSheng, to Wu Ma, to Chin Feng, and many other all top stars of Shaws. The cinematography is amazing, just one of the best epics, the film was based on the last few later chapters of The Water Margin (the novel).
Golden Harvest
Duel to the Death 8.3/10
One of the last few "oldschool" wuxia films made in the early 80s, before Swordsman hit the screen with its high, flying, wirefu, Damian Lau as China's number 1 swordsman against Norman Hsu as Japan's number 1 Samurai, in a fight you would never forget, the end fight scene will still leave breathless even for today's standard.
Damian Lau is one of the most respected actor in many wuxia adaptations in HK and the same can be said for Norman Tsui gave you their finest (and last) old school swordplay into the big screen.
While some of the special effects would seem dated for today's standard, the last 20 minutes of the duel will floor you, there is nothing like it. It's bloody, intense and just out of this world. They don't make this kind of movie anymore, so dig it out if you can, some of the Ninjas appeared a bit too cheesy for today's taste, but that's how it was back then. Eddie Ko can also be seen as a Japanese Samurai master here.
The two legends met as Japan (Norman Tsui) vs China (Damien Lau) duel to the death, a true classic for martial arts fan. I actually watched this movie on the big screen when it came out in Asia back in 1982. I still remember this scene, which is the last fight to the death scene, until this day. Ching Siu Tung as the director was of course at his best here.
Do yourself a favor, don't get the bootleg or the butchered region 1 USA version. Get the original Hongkong or Asian version.
The Last Hurrah For Chivalry 6.80/10
This movie was revered by Westerners because it ties up to John Woo, his top wuxia pien film, before he switched over as an action director. I liked it as it was entertaining with some good swords fight action but as a whole wuxia film, it really was not that good, it's more like a series of fights tied up together. The story was choppy for me. I like Chu Yuan's films better than this so-so film. The good thing is it's nice to see Damian Lau and Wei Pai in a swordsplay film.
Independent/small production /Taiwan wuxia films
A Touch of Zen 9.4/10
This movie is in my top 3 best wuxia films of all time. An extraordinary achievement in Chinese Wuxia filmmaking back in 1969 and won the Technical Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975. This movie was a groundbreaking movie during its time. It's the predecessor of the wire-fu and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon bamboo scene definitely owed a lot this movie, after all both movies came out from Taiwan and both by Taiwanese directors. Considered the best wuxia pien masterpiece by many around the world, directed by the late King Hu. A 3-hour 2 parts movie, which will take your breath away, the bamboo fight scenes won the Cannes award in France in the early 70s for technical achievement and it hasn't aged a bit for today's standard. Hsu Feng as a heroine was timeless.
The movie's cinematography is also incredibly beautiful, and the main hero is a woman, for a change, in the male-dominant Wuxia movies, normally produced by the rival Shawbrothers Hong Kong studios, which mostly did its shootings in a studio. King Hu, the director, used real natural beauty and authentic sceneries to capture the beautiful backdrops of the Chinese knight-errand period.
The movie also had a wonderful storyline, great character development and of course, groundbreaking technical aspect during the swordplay fight scenes, mostly at the later half of the movie. I remember this was a long movie, IMDB has it clocked at 177 minutes, almost a three hour movie.
This is definitely a classic Wuxia movie, an everlasting masterpiece since 1969, by King Hu, the man who actually introduced the world the wonder of Wuxia cinema.
Green Dragon Inn 4.75/10
A pretty entertaining movie as an independent, cheap budget movie coming from Taiwan, I think this was produced in the mid 80s, starring the wuxia Queen, Shangguan Lingfeng, and two veterans of Shaw Brothers, Yueh Hua and Lo Lieh. Both weren't really in their top form but managed to give us good performance. Everything was passable, but the story was actually good, what got me is the end fight scene which turned a wuxia film into kungfu, really bad.
The Lost Swordship 7/10
One of the better efforts from the smaller/independent Taiwanese production to adapt Gu Long's less popular novel into film. The budget clearly was non the small scale, but this one was quite special because of the cinematography around the Taiwan pictureque mountains and landscape, the music score was surprisingly superb, the martial arts are ok, Ting Peng was great, and Wang Ping was an eye candy as usual
Shaw Brothers
The Avenging Eagle 9.0/10
A masterpiece by Sun Chung, this one tops almost everything except for the selected few, the combination of real sceneries plus the use of Shaw Brothers studio were wonderful, the plot is one of the best, and you really won't see Alex Fu Sheng, Ti Lung, and Ku Feng put out this kind of martial arts extravaganza again. Just simply one of the best, in my top 5
Clans of Intrique 8.75/10
Another top contender in a long list of Chu Yuan's films, I have this second in my list after Killer Clans, Ti Lung as Chu Liu Xiang was the best wuxia fans can ever imagined, he played the role to perfection, the charm, the charisma, the martial arts, and the smile, they're all there. Gu Long must be proud to see his novel got adapted into such a beautiful wuxia fillm. Yueh Hua as the Flower Monk was also excellent.
I feel that my Top 25 Asian movie won't be complete without the crème de la crème wuxia (Chinese fantasy martial arts) genre classic from the robust, now defunct, Shaw Brother's studio. Many people regarded Shaw Brothers as the chop socky B-movie film producer in the late 60s, 70s, and early 80s, before the studio closed down in the mid 80s due to ravaging competition from other studios in Hong Kong, but most of the newer generation only saw most of their highly insulting, and badly English dubbed Kung Fu movies, which resulted in generalized stereotypes of Chinese martial arts movies. Still we could not say anything because those dubbed butchered films were the result of copies of the old movies, not the original source because Shaw Brothers never released their original products after studio closed down. However, this whole dillema was solved recently when Celestial Pictures bought the right to re-release almost all of Shaw Brother's movies in remastered format, with the original audio and in its original Shawscopewidescreen format.
Most people think about Chow Yun-Fat in the movie A Better Tomorrow, but the actual lead actor in that movie was Ti Lung, in fact, he won the best actor award for his performance that year. If you are not familiar with Ti Lung, let me tell you, he is the frontrunner leading man in Hong Kong cinema back in the 70s. When he was young, he was good-looking, handsome, athletic, talented, and dashing, basically a typical chivalrious look combined with martial arts training and acting talent. In this movie Clans of Intrique, he was at his top form. Not only the movie was backed by the famous Chinese novel, originally written by Gu Long, and the script written by Ni Kuang. It was only directed by the artistically talented Director Chu Yuan, which succesfully brought the novel and the dreamy feeling of the ancient China alive on the movie screen. The lavish sets, despite produced inside the huge Shaw's film studio, and the attention to details were spot on.
Unlike the wuxia genre of today, such as House of the Flying Dagger or the visually dazzling but weak The Promise, this masterpiece is filled with intriques and plots, which will keep you glued to the screen trying to keep up with the pace of the story, which played out like a detective story. IMHO, this is the best example of what a perfect wuxia movie should be, in fact, many Westerners watch it only to be converted to the wuxia genre, because the movie is poetic and beautiful with superb storyline. You don't watch it for the typical chop socky fight scenes but you watch it for the overall quality and story, which was blended perfectly.
If you are going to watch it or get the DVD, you need to the get the Region 3 Celestial Release.
The Jade Face Assasin 6.0/10
Lily Ho starred as Wen Yu Er (don't really remember the exact name), from Gu Long's character, Xiao Yu Er in The Twins, except here they converted him into a female character. The story was actually quite loyal to the first half of the novel, but hacked the end and made it just a passable effort from Shaw Brothers
The Jade Raksha 8.20/10
If you like Come Drink with Me then you are going to love this movie, it's another 60s wuxia film, it means more raw sword fighting with less choreography, it's not as ancient as One Armed Swordsman but don't expect to see Liu Chia Liang's later (late 70s, early 80s) choreography here. The bamboo forest scene and the rooftop fights were excellent, one of the better one from Cheng Pei Pei
The Jade Tiger 8.60/10
An adaptation of Gu Long's Bai Yu Lao Hu (roughly translated The Jade Tiger), a great movie with an excellent message at the end, full of intriques and plot twists, I just love the ending of this movie, and how Derek Yee played a villain, Shih Zhu was also great as always, one of the top 5 Chu Yuan's adaptations of GL books
Killer Clans 9/10
One of the most revered Wuxia production from Shawbrothers studio, favorite of many old school wuxia fans and it shows Smile. Killer Clans was a special movie due to the high budget put into the movie during its time. This movie is based on Gu Long's novel, called Meteor, Butterfly, and Sword in English, one of his popular one.
The movie (as the book does) contains a lot of plot twists, double and triple crosses. Characters died every 5-10 minutes, just how it's told in the novel. The romantic art direction was matchless even for today's standard, relative to the budget of course. Director Chu Yuan is considered the master at bringing Gu Long's novel alive on the screen, he had a good sense of color and camera placements. He made the world of Gu Long seemed dream like, and only Shaw Brothers studio of the 70s was able to capture it.
Tsung Wah, Ching Li, Ku Feng, and Yueh Hua just perfect here. Ku Feng was in his prime and perhaps in his top 5 best role Smile
The fighting scenes might not be too many, but Tang Chia's direction (he was a weapon fight choreographer at Shaw Brothers during its golden wuxia production years. The plots of the story will keep you watching and guessing until the end.
These days Hong Kong just don't make Wuxia movie like this one anymore. An example would be a movie called Butterfly & Sword (1993) based on the same novel, starring Michelle Yeoh, Tony Leung and Donnie Yen, which is crap.
One Armed Swordsman 8.50/10
It might not work for some people because the fight scenes are just too slow and ancient, basically Wang Yu swinging the broken blade in one slash motion ala Samurai, it's no surprised since this movie inspired Chang Cheh from Kurosawa's films, for most though, it's this raw, simple sword slashing scenes that did the wonder, the movie was the first HK movie that hit $1 Mil HK dollar in the box office at premiere and started the crazed in wuxia genre
The New One Armed Swordsman 8.0/10
Most people put this one on their list in the three One Armed Swordsman released by Chang Cheh, this one starred the charming David Chiang and the dashing young Ti Lung, their chemistry, alhough doesn't last long in this movie, was legendary, the fight scene in the bridge with the breathtaking sceneries in the background was considered one of Shaw's best cinematography, thousands of people got hacked into pieces here, I do however still like the original by a little bit.
The Return of the One Armed Swordsman 7.90/10
Some people who put values on fighting scenes like this better because here, not only Wang Yu as the One Armed Swordsman fight a villain, but 8 villains in total, a full non-stop wuxia action, surprisingly however, I am one of the minorities who found the sequel a little bit too much, I prefer the romantism of the first one
The Sentimental Swordsman 8/10
Adapted from one of the most popular Wuxia novels of all time in Chinese culture, called Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword, or better known as Dagger Li or Little Li's Flying Dagger.
Ti Lung playing the role of Li Xun Huan, Xiao Li Fei Dao or Dagger Li. Ti Lung teamed up with Derek Yee here, playing as Ah Fei, the movie won the best picture in the earliest HK award events, it is another Shaw Brother's wuxia classic, what really hinder this film to be on the top of my list is the pink costume worn by villian, and how Chu Yuan changed the ending, I'm a novel purist Wink but really ... the dagger just can't miss Smile
Anyway, the movie is very loyal to the novel from the moment the movie starts, the only thing is keep in mind that since this was an earlier (prior to 1990) adaptation where the budget was limited and visual effect technology was still ancient compared to today's standard, don't expect Hero or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, but the cinematography, although primarily shot in Shawbrother's studio was amazing and a breakthrough. The movie was able to capture the spirit of the novel, it was so perfect that it won the Golden Horse Award in 1978 for best cinematography
The movie took some of the lines from the novel words per words, that is until the last scenes of the movie, where Chu Yuan made some changes to add tension and mystery of the story.
Gu Long's novels are sort of like Ancient Chinese detective stories, where flavorful twists and turns are embedded throughout. Ti Lung as Li XunHuan, or Dagger Li, is also one of the best depiction of Gu Long's characters in the bigscreen. He's great as the coughing 'flying dagger never misses' Li XunHuan.
The Water Margin 8.40/10
This is an amazing, all star power, super epic Shaw Brother's production, from Ku Feng, to Lily Ho, to Yueh Hua as Lin Chong, to David Chiang as Xiao Yi, to Ti Lung as Wu Shung, to Chen Kuan Tai, to Fan MeiSheng, to Wu Ma, to Chin Feng, and many other all top stars of Shaws. The cinematography is amazing, just one of the best epics, the film was based on the last few later chapters of The Water Margin (the novel).
Golden Harvest
Duel to the Death 8.3/10
One of the last few "oldschool" wuxia films made in the early 80s, before Swordsman hit the screen with its high, flying, wirefu, Damian Lau as China's number 1 swordsman against Norman Hsu as Japan's number 1 Samurai, in a fight you would never forget, the end fight scene will still leave breathless even for today's standard.
Damian Lau is one of the most respected actor in many wuxia adaptations in HK and the same can be said for Norman Tsui gave you their finest (and last) old school swordplay into the big screen.
While some of the special effects would seem dated for today's standard, the last 20 minutes of the duel will floor you, there is nothing like it. It's bloody, intense and just out of this world. They don't make this kind of movie anymore, so dig it out if you can, some of the Ninjas appeared a bit too cheesy for today's taste, but that's how it was back then. Eddie Ko can also be seen as a Japanese Samurai master here.
The two legends met as Japan (Norman Tsui) vs China (Damien Lau) duel to the death, a true classic for martial arts fan. I actually watched this movie on the big screen when it came out in Asia back in 1982. I still remember this scene, which is the last fight to the death scene, until this day. Ching Siu Tung as the director was of course at his best here.
Do yourself a favor, don't get the bootleg or the butchered region 1 USA version. Get the original Hongkong or Asian version.
The Last Hurrah For Chivalry 6.80/10
This movie was revered by Westerners because it ties up to John Woo, his top wuxia pien film, before he switched over as an action director. I liked it as it was entertaining with some good swords fight action but as a whole wuxia film, it really was not that good, it's more like a series of fights tied up together. The story was choppy for me. I like Chu Yuan's films better than this so-so film. The good thing is it's nice to see Damian Lau and Wei Pai in a swordsplay film.
Independent/small production /Taiwan wuxia films
A Touch of Zen 9.4/10
This movie is in my top 3 best wuxia films of all time. An extraordinary achievement in Chinese Wuxia filmmaking back in 1969 and won the Technical Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975. This movie was a groundbreaking movie during its time. It's the predecessor of the wire-fu and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon bamboo scene definitely owed a lot this movie, after all both movies came out from Taiwan and both by Taiwanese directors. Considered the best wuxia pien masterpiece by many around the world, directed by the late King Hu. A 3-hour 2 parts movie, which will take your breath away, the bamboo fight scenes won the Cannes award in France in the early 70s for technical achievement and it hasn't aged a bit for today's standard. Hsu Feng as a heroine was timeless.
The movie's cinematography is also incredibly beautiful, and the main hero is a woman, for a change, in the male-dominant Wuxia movies, normally produced by the rival Shawbrothers Hong Kong studios, which mostly did its shootings in a studio. King Hu, the director, used real natural beauty and authentic sceneries to capture the beautiful backdrops of the Chinese knight-errand period.
The movie also had a wonderful storyline, great character development and of course, groundbreaking technical aspect during the swordplay fight scenes, mostly at the later half of the movie. I remember this was a long movie, IMDB has it clocked at 177 minutes, almost a three hour movie.
This is definitely a classic Wuxia movie, an everlasting masterpiece since 1969, by King Hu, the man who actually introduced the world the wonder of Wuxia cinema.
Green Dragon Inn 4.75/10
A pretty entertaining movie as an independent, cheap budget movie coming from Taiwan, I think this was produced in the mid 80s, starring the wuxia Queen, Shangguan Lingfeng, and two veterans of Shaw Brothers, Yueh Hua and Lo Lieh. Both weren't really in their top form but managed to give us good performance. Everything was passable, but the story was actually good, what got me is the end fight scene which turned a wuxia film into kungfu, really bad.
The Lost Swordship 7/10
One of the better efforts from the smaller/independent Taiwanese production to adapt Gu Long's less popular novel into film. The budget clearly was non the small scale, but this one was quite special because of the cinematography around the Taiwan pictureque mountains and landscape, the music score was surprisingly superb, the martial arts are ok, Ting Peng was great, and Wang Ping was an eye candy as usual